The TrustLaw Index of Pro Bono is a global survey that examines the practice
of pro bono and the extent of pro bono legal services provided by legal teams
across the globe. The Index offers a benchmark to understand and track the
global scope and evolving nature of pro bono services. Moreover, it equips law
firms with the necessary resources and strategies to cultivate robust and
impactful pro bono practices.
The Index has evolved over the years in response to the needs of the sector
and to strengthen its methodology. In recent years, we have delved more deeply
into areas of growing interest, such as pro bono staffing, pro bono and
diversity, and pro bono impact tracking, while keeping other questions in the
survey constant to allow for comparison over time.
Data Collection
The survey is based on a global, non-representative sample of 209 law firms
and in-house legal teams in 123 jurisdictions. The firms’ sizes, areas of
specialisation and levels of pro bono work varied. Of the firms surveyed, 173
provided comprehensive numerical information on pro bono hours. Although we
met the participation threshold target set for the survey, participation was
slightly lower relative to 2022. In particular, we saw fewer Medium-sized and
Small Firms participating, as they cited capacity constraints that limited
their ability to consistently track and report their pro bono work.
The study uses a mixed methods research approach combining quantitative and
qualitative research techniques. A self-administered online survey was used to
collect the data.
The 2024 Index survey was launched on 8 February 2024 and was open to
submissions until June 2024. The pro bono landscape has changed significantly
since the inception of the Index in 2014. Based on various sources of
feedback, including meetings, feedback forms and direct feedback from
participants in the last Index survey, changes were made, including the
refining of questions on pro bono diversity commitments and pro bono staffing,
and the addition of questions on how firms track, measure, deliver and
communicate their pro bono impact.
Law firms from diverse backgrounds contributed to the Index data set,
reflecting the global landscape of legal pro bono work. To ensure meaningful
analysis, submissions adhered to specific guidelines on key indicators such as
what qualifies as pro bono work and definitions of fee earners and clients as
outlined in the
Index submission guidelines. These indicators take into account regional variances in pro bono,
ultimately ensuring a unified and comparable approach to the gathered data.
The metrics used to calculate the level of a firm’s pro bono engagement over
the 12-month, self-selected period are:
- The average number of hours of pro bono per fee earner
-
The percentage of fee earners at a firm performing ten or more hours of pro
bono
For purposes of the Index, Qualifying Pro Bono must meet the three criteria
below:
-
Qualifying Work: legal advice, assistance, representation
and research, as well as drafting agreements, policy documents or
legislative instruments—as long as it is done without financial return. In
this report, we refer to it simply as “pro bono”. It is distinct from legal
aid, which usually refers to state-funded legal advice or representation for
individuals who are unable to afford legal services.
-
Qualifying Fee Earner: any legal professional who performs
fee-earning work for clients. In this report we use the terms “fee earner”
and “lawyer” interchangeably. Fee earner is a category that includes
students and trainees, law clerks, paralegals and other valued pro bono
contributors within law firms. We use the plain language term “lawyer” for
readability, especially in our executive summary, and as a stand-in for this
wider range of professionals who support pro bono.
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Qualifying Clients: people of limited means or
organisations with a societal, environmental, humanitarian, cultural or
community focus, as validated by the law firm, referral organisations or pro
bono organisations.
View the additional guidelines that set out the criteria under which we
define pro bono work and personnel.
In addition, the firms shared qualitative information on:
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Why they do pro bono: the reasons behind the firm’s pro
bono practice.
-
Pro bono focus areas: whether firms prefer to work with
certain types of pro bono clients and on certain types of pro bono matters.
-
Pro bono infrastructure and practice: who firms have hired
in their practice, what responsibilities these personnel have and whether
firms utilise pro bono policies such as pro bono eligibility criteria or
oversight of pro bono by partners.
-
Incentivising and rewarding pro bono: their implementation
of pro bono targets and consideration of pro bono in performance appraisals
and in awarding compensation.
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Diversity: if firms have a formal diversity commitment
relating to their pro bono work and the forms and factors that commitment
includes.
-
Pro bono impact: how firms track, measure and communicate
their pro bono impact.
Data Analysis
Quantitative Analysis
This shows where and to what extent pro bono work was performed by lawyers.
The quantitative questions asked were:
- Number of Qualifying Fee Earners as of 31 December 2023
- Total Qualifying Pro Bono hours
-
Number of Qualifying Fee Earners who recorded ten or more hours of
Qualifying Pro Bono time
-
Number of Qualifying Fee Earners who recorded any time on Qualifying Pro
Bono matters
After analysis, the output from this data was the average number of hours of
pro bono per fee earner and the percentage of fee earners doing ten or more
hours of pro bono in the 12-month, self-selected period. This data was then
disaggregated by region and jurisdiction.
This year, as in 2022, we used a simple average approach to calculate regional
and country-level average pro bono hours, the average percentage of lawyers
that performed ten or more hours of pro bono and the average percentage of
lawyers that performed any pro bono work. Prior to 2022, the regional and
country calculations (not global) were completed as an average of firm
averages. This methodological change allows for a clearer picture of average
pro bono hours among individual lawyers and helps to avoid giving outsized
weight to the pro bono contributions of some firms over others.
Note of Correction: In completing the 10-year look back this
year, we identified an underlying data error in our 2020 Index which resulted
in a double-counting of partners and resulted in reporting erroneous figures
for global average hours, engagement and certain other data points in that
year. The error has been addressed online and the figures presented in this
report in relation to 2020 are correct.
Qualitative Analysis
Data was collected from 24 questions (up from 23 in 2022) with answers that
were a mix of yes or no, multiple choice, open-ended and numerical.
We removed certain questions relating to COVID-19 as an area of focus and its
impact on pro bono programmes. We also refined/streamlined some questions. The
qualitative data submissions were anonymised and aggregated, then used to
identify key industry trends and issues at a global, regional and
jurisdictional level.
Global Analysis
The first section of the Index provides a global analysis of pro bono
practices by assessing the size, pro bono clients, focus areas, infrastructure
and incentives of participating law firms. This analysis focuses on the law
firm size irrespective of the jurisdiction in which it operates. The
underlying hypothesis is that pro bono lawyers encounter similar challenges in
the practice of pro bono regardless of their firm’s location. By adopting
successful pro bono techniques from elsewhere, firms can enhance their own pro
bono initiatives.
Regional and Country Level Analysis
We acknowledge the significance of social, regulatory and economic factors on
the local context and the impact this may have on the volume and nature of pro
bono work performed by firms. With this in mind, we have provided background
context alongside our data analysis on the factors influencing pro bono for
countries where more than four law firms submitted their data.
Where possible, we provide comparisons to the 2022 data relating to average
pro bono hours at the regional and country level. We do not include
comparisons where we are not confident in the comparability of the responding
sample between 2022 and 2024.
The Index divides responding firms into three groups based on headcount:
-
Small Firms: Firms that have a total headcount of less than
50 fee earners
-
Medium-sized Firms: Firms that have 50 – 199 fee earners
- Large Firms: Firms that have 200+ fee earners
The Index uses the number of fee earners as a simple way to gauge a firm’s
size, resources and capabilities. This categorization helps the Index assess
how a firm’s resources influence its level of pro bono engagement and how
firms of different sizes allocate resources to pro bono work.
Data Quality Assurance
The participating firms submitted data on their pro bono practice for a
12-month period in a self-administered survey. As with prior Indexes, we used
a three-tier process to ensure data quality:
-
Before analysis, the law firms were supplied with a copy of their submitted
data to confirm the accuracy of the data.
-
The data set was then checked for missing data and outliers by the Index
project team.
-
After the preliminary review by the team, the data was reviewed for outliers
by a professional data scientist.
The data was then analysed by the data scientist and was later audited (by a
separate specialist) to flag any anomalies. Where appropriate and possible,
anomalies identified at various stages were addressed by referral to the
submitting firms for correction and resubmission.
View the questions that comprised the Index Survey.
View submissions guidance and FAQs.
